


Entirely Unintentional

by elyxi



Category: Adam (2009), Bleeder (1999), Charlie Countryman (2013)
Genre: First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Spacedogs, Unbeta'd, any mistakes are mine!!, bleeder au, but no actual porn, mention of pornography, nigel works in a cd shop :), spacedogs au, uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:08:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24608221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elyxi/pseuds/elyxi
Summary: "The rest are kind of in a jumble." He concluded, scanning the young man's face and unintentionally seeking any sign of impressiveness or amazement at his long-stored knowledge. There wassome, like a therapist having listened to a patient rave on about his good progress for the week and looking slightly proud, but little else."Okay." The man said lightly with a tiny smile that had Nigel smiling back, then threw Nigel completely off course with his next blatant question, "What about porn?"
Relationships: Nigel (Charlie Countryman)/Adam Raki
Comments: 6
Kudos: 73





	Entirely Unintentional

**Author's Note:**

> based off [this](https://twitter.com/noforts/status/1267179670962831364?s=19) video!
> 
> edit: i wrote this before i actually watched Bleeder and solely based it off the video so i will forever regret not waiting a day longer to write this fic and ending up with spacedogs instead of spacefilms :")

"Do you have any more of these?" A youngish looking man came up to the counter holding a CD box, getting Nigel's attention from his recording of the store's current stock. 

He turned to face the young man, briefly taking in his boyish features with mild interest and the box he was holding; _Inside the Actor's Studio: Julia Roberts_. "Er, two, I think." He replied.

"Ah." The man glanced down at the box in his hands. "Do– Do you have anything in the same style?"

"Anything in particular?"

"Um... No...?" 

"Okay," Nigel lifted a pen in the direction of a shelf behind the man. "All films are divided by category: Action, drama, comedy. Or by genre. Horror, musicals, Westerns, Kung Fu, LSD, Blaxploitation, beach movies, women in prison– And upstairs in the big room we've put all the directors." He pointed in the general direction of the stairs, and the customer turned momentarily to look despite not being able to actually see the upstairs room from where he was. 

"Fritz Lang, Sergio Leone, Scorsese, Corbucci, Romero, Fulci, Peckinpah, Rollin, Torneur, Craven, Carpenter, Jack Hill–" Nigel took a breath, "–Fleischer, Herzog, Morrissey, Ed Wood, Waters, Suzuki, Kubrick, Fellini, Hitchcock, Seigel, Lynch, Jodorowsky, Lustig, Melchior, Orson Welles, Honda, David Lynch," followed by another deep inhale before he continued again, faster than ever and rattling off every name he could think of. He found it odd, that he was trying so hard to impress the small man in front of him. He'd usually just send the customer that way to look for themselves, but something about him made Nigel want to talk as long as he could. Maybe he just wanted to look at those curious blue eyes longer. 

"Err... John Woo, Jackie Chan, Russ Meyer, Abel Ferrara, Joe D'Amato, Fisher, Hooper, H.G. Lewis, Lenzi, Tarantino, Kurosawa, Franco, Corman, Cohn, Deodato, Bava, Jack Arnold, Whale– Oh, and on the bottom shelf over there," Nigel gestured, and the man turned again to stare, "We've chucked all those... those... David Lean, Frank Capra, Pontecorvo... err..." Nigel found himself tapering off as the names refused to come to mind, and a deep voice behind him asked, "Tarkovsky?"

"Tarkovsky." He immediately agreed, taking a quick look at Darko who had come out from the back room and helped to continue his spew of information to the young man who was beginning to look increasingly shifty, moving from one foot to the other and glancing between the two of them. 

"Wajda."

"Scola." 

"Visconti."

"Cassavetes, John Houston." 

Darko took a short drag from his cigarette as he looked up at the ceiling in contemplation. "Frank Capra?"

"I just said him." Nigel glanced at Darko for a moment as he tried to catch hold of his fading train of thought. "Anthony Mann, Zimmerman, Goddard, Hawks, Truffaut, Robert Wise, Melville, Lars von Trier–" Nigel made a face at the name and paused long enough for Darko to helpfully supply, "Murnau, Lindsay Anderson, err... Gianni Amelio, Elia Kazan, Buñuel." 

Nigel made an approving sound as Darko left as quickly as he came, so he turned to face the man on the other side of the counter again. "The rest are kind of in a jumble." He concluded, scanning the young man's face and unintentionally seeking any sign of impressiveness or amazement at his long-stored knowledge. There was _some_ , like a therapist having listened to a patient rave on about his good progress for the week and looking slightly proud, but little else. 

"Okay." The man said lightly with a tiny smile that had Nigel smiling back, then threw Nigel completely off course with his next blatant question, "What about porn?" 

The older man coughed to hide his surprise. It wasn't like no one's ever asked for the porn section, but the small man in front of him holding a fucking Julia Roberts interview was the last person he'd expect to ask for that, and Nigel made sure to clarify in case he was hearing wrongly. 

"Porn?" He asked, and the man nodded quickly, his soft-looking cheeks turning pink under Nigel's scrutinizing gaze. 

"Err, they're way at the back over there." He leaned forward and pushed an arm past the man towards the back of the shop to point with the pen still in his hand. "You need me to show you? It's a little hard to find sometimes 'cause we don't wanna label it in case people get weirded out." 

"I think I'll be okay, thanks." The man's lips twitched upwards slightly as he put the Julia Roberts film down on the counter. "Could... Could I leave this here first? I'll c-come back later to pay." 

Nigel hummed and leaned back in his chair, observing the way the man refused to hold his eye contact or the way his hands clenched by his sides the longer he stood there. There was a small pause, only the buzzing of the standing fan behind Nigel bothering to continue on. It seemed his hum wasn't enough of an approval, so Nigel nodded and grinned. "Yeah, I'll set it aside for you. Want me to get a better copy? This one looks pretty beat up." 

"S-Sure. I'll see you later." The man said, and left without another word. 

Nigel immediately got up and picked up the CD case, flipping it over in his hands to examine the label and the series' name properly. He was right, he noticed as he quickly looked through the store records, only about two or three copies left. They'd better stock up on these. 

He looked up in time to see Adam suddenly falling to the floor and a bunch of CD boxes doing the same with a series of dull clatters. Nigel quickly got out from behind the counter to make his way over to the younger man to help him up, hauling him up by his shoulders and depositing his two feet firmly on the ground. 

"The fuck were you doing, man? Can't stand on your own?" Nigel questioned, voice raised as he started picking up the racy films that had toppled from the shelves. The young man flinched at his tone. "I-I'm sorry... There was a puddle and I slipped. It's quite dark back here, you should have a light installed so this doesn't happen again." 

Nigel rolled his eyes and he grumbled his disapproval of the man berating him for something he didn't even do. "Fucking Darko... I'll tell him to come and clean this up. Now help me...?"

The smaller man had stood there wringing his hands together, watching Nigel try to gather everything into his arms, but looked up at the statement that sounded more like a question. "Yeah, I can help." He answered, but didn't move. 

A few things began to click in Nigel's head as he recalled the random film Darko had thrown his way a couple days into opening the small CD rental shop, telling him it could help fix his shitty view of the world and that not everyone was a fucking idiot. Some were just born that way, the shop's owner had added, and Nigel had rolled his eyes but took the damned case home anyway. Popping it into the player and letting it run while making dinner was easy enough. Sitting through the painfully boring documentary about the Autism Spectrum and the other mental disorders that came with it was another story. He had almost thrown the thicker CD case against the wall when he found another disk behind the flap, a ' _Part 2: How to Engage and Interact_ ' component of the documentary, but found himself watching it since he knew Darko would question him about it. 

It wasn't his fault they were reduced to this after their drug ring was taken down, but here they fucking were anyway. And the more Nigel looked at the customer, the more he recalled from that documentary. 

"Hey, kid. I really don't mean to offend, but do you have uhh... what's it called, Asper–"

"Asperger's Syndrome?" The man cut in almost immediately, _expectantly_ , and nodded when Nigel voiced his affirmation. "How did you know? Not many people know about my condition. Also, I'm not a kid. I'm twenty-nine years old this year." He stood up straighter and puffed out his chest a little, managing to look like those odd birds trying to attract a compatible mate but failing. 

"Saw a film a couple years ago. Talked about the Autism Spectrum and all that." Nigel replied with a smile at the boy's indignant stance. "What's your name?"

"I'm Adam Raki. Nice to meet you." Adam said, momentarily holding out a hand and once he realised Nigel couldn't do the same he pulled it back to his side.

"Cool. I'm Nigel. Help me out with these. There's a bunch of stuff to pick up, and since you pointed out the water I've got to clean the fuckers too." The older man grunted as he took as much as he could back to the counter, quickly yelling for Darko to bring a mop and a few clean cloths. Adam came soon after, depositing everything on the small pile they'd accumulated and plucking a cloth from Darko's hands to start wiping the CD boxes down, checking the insides as well to see if any of the disks were damaged. Thankfully, none of them were or he'd have to pay for them; the younger man sighed in relief. 

"Hey, Adam, you like this kinda stuff, huh?" Nigel held up a box that had a slightly soaked through cover image, but the title and photo were still embarrassingly clear for Adam to see. 

_Hot young twink gets fucked HARD!! $8.99 only!! (20% OFF)_

Adam's entire face suddenly turned red, up to the tips of his slightly elvish ears despite a jerky shake of his head. 

"I–" He began, then paused. "Isn't it normal?" 

Nigel barked out a laugh, but refrained from slinging an arm over the kid's shoulder like he normally would with someone he was trying to get closer to. 

_'Aspies don't often like to be touched out of the blue, so it's best to keep your hands to yourself until they're comfortable with you and allow you to touch them.'_

"Hey, listen. I don't judge. But _generally_ , guys would go for big tits or nice asses on girls. Like those beach movies with the hot chicks in their swimsuits or a porno mag. You don't like those?" Nigel replied, and Adam shook his head once more, "they look too fake sometimes. It puts me off." 

"Hm, yeah, that's the point sometimes. It's unrealistic and that's why guys like 'em. They can't get that with their girlfriends or wives, so they turn to porn... You got a girlfriend, Adam?" The older man asked again, then quickly added, "Or a boyfriend, I don't have a stick up my ass like some people." 

Adam smiled at his addition. "I used to have a girlfriend, Beth Buchwald, but we broke up when I wanted to move here for work. She said she didn't know if she could come, but she did send me her book. It's about racoons in Central Park. I actually liked it a lot, I've read it a few times. Do you want to read it, maybe? I could bring it over some day– Oh. Sorry, I'm talking too much. Could you stop me if I start going off on a tangent again?" 

Nigel waved a dismissive hand and leaned against the counter, watching the way Adam examined his relaxed posture and very slowly fell into the same stance as him. It was pretty endearing, in a strange way. "I'm not gonna stop you now. Tell me about your work. Why didn't she wanna come? That's a pretty fucking lame excuse considering you were her fuckin' boyfriend. 

"I work at the observatory – You really should stop swearing, Nigel, it's bad for your mental health – but I do research and engineering for space communication and exploration. Um... Beth told me she couldn't go because I... depended on her too much? She didn't tell me that at the start when I said she was like a part of me and I couldn't go without her, but she told me later, after I came here and she sent me her book. She wished me well, though, so I guess that's all settled." Adam shuffled his feet against the concrete as he realised he was confessing his past to an entire stranger. 

"Huh... damn." Nigel could count the number of times he'd been rendered speechless on a single hand, but apparently the young man in front of him was making him add another finger to the mix. "She sounds like a bitch, and that's some fucked up baggage you've got there. You sure you doin' okay?" 

Adam blinked, and looked down at his feet in confusion. "Baggage? I-I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're saying..." 

"Emotional baggage." Nigel answered immediately. "The traumatic shit you've accumulated from your past and carried with you as life goes on. I've got plenty, Darko over there too. We all get fucked at some point in life, but you're only 29 and you're already here scanning the shelves for gay porn because your girl was too much of a pussy to admit she was a bitch to you? _And_ she turned it on you? Fucking hell." 

It really wasn't like Nigel to get worked up over this kind of thing, but Adam just seemed so different in a refreshing way that he couldn't help but feel like he wanted to protect him. _Jesus Christ_ , he was getting soft, and somehow he knew he was going down with it. 

"N-No, it's fine. We're both doing okay. And I've had the time to figure out what I like since I left her. I don't really... like... women. Harlan always talked about women with me, so I assumed I'd have to be with one, but after I came here I found out liking men was also a thing. But I haven't been with anyone yet, so I don't want to assume anything..." Adam trailed off as his eyes darted around the shop before settling on a particular dog on Nigel's favourite shirt. "I-I like your shirt... Do you like dogs?"

Nigel found himself smiling and glancing down at his clothes. He smoothed it down instinctively. "Yeah. Got this baby custom made around 5 years ago. It's my lucky charm." He announced proudly and winced when Darko came up behind him to whack the back of his head with the end of the mop. 

"Keep running your damned mouth and you're going outside with your boyfriend, you fucking sap. Already made me clean this up and now I gotta hear your rubbish." He barked sharply, though his words held a tone of endearment to them. Typical. 

" _Nenorocitule_ ," Nigel mumbled under his breath as he rubbed his head. "He isn't my boyfriend, you cunt!" He called after Darko. The other man stuck out his middle finger from behind the doorframe of the supply closet.

"A-Are you okay? That looked pretty hard." Adam asked, concerned. He reached a hand up out of pure instinct, but pulled it back when Nigel turned to look at him. "Do you need medical attention?"

The older man laughed. "It's fine, I'm used to his bullshit. Let's go outside before he yells at us again. That way he's gonna have to keep everything too, the fucking idiot!" 

"Sure, Nigel. But could I get my CD first? I was going to watch it during dinner." Adam asked. Nigel nodded and reached over the counter to punch in the price of the film Adam was renting, careful not to upset the pile of CD cases on the small surface in front of him, and took the offered money from the younger man in front of him. He handed Adam the change before going to the stock room and picking up a new-ish copy for him, grabbing his phone and wallet along the way and telling Darko he'd be clocking out. 

"Here," he tossed the box to Adam, who fumbled with it the moment it came into his grasp. "Be sure to return it in two weeks. Or you could extend your loan when you come back if you want to." 

Adam smiled, a twitch of his lips that looked more secretive than for Nigel's eyes to see as he slipped the case into his messenger bag and walked out into the dry air of California with Nigel. "Thank you. Do you want to go anywhere in particular? I could show you the observatory if you have time." He seemed hopeful, just enough that Nigel denying his request wouldn't be too big a deal to him, but Nigel knew better than to be an asshole to someone who didn't actually want to shoot him at first sight. It had taken him a long while to lower his defences, almost putting every initial customer in a chokehold in suspicion and resisting the ingrained temptation to call for Darko's backup, so maybe it was time he dropped them properly. The younger man was interesting enough anyway. 

Nigel grinned. "Sounds like a date. Do you have dinner plans, by the way? I've heard the new pizza place that just opened is pretty good."

"Um, I don't have dinner plans, but I don't really want to disturb my routine too much." Adam replied, "It's kind of bad for me if I do, since I would probably spiral without a fixed routine in place. You could come over to my apartment, though. I live alone, so you won't be any hassle, plus I get to stick to my routine."

Nigel raised a brow, stopping momentarily to face Adam. "You trust me enough for that?" 

The smaller man hummed and looked up at him. "You helped me out in there. I think that's worthy of a dinner invitation?" 

"I'm not complaining. Dinner first? We can do the observatory at night if it's still open."

"Oh, of course! I have special access since my work requires me to stay late sometimes." This time Adam gave Nigel a genuine smile, laugh lines showing up by the sides of his eyes and adorable dimples creasing his cheeks. Nigel found himself looking everywhere but the blue-green eyes that had latched onto the stray wisp of greying hair falling over his face, and paused when Adam hesitantly reached up to tuck it away with the rest of Nigel's fringe. He stopped completely as he felt a smaller, smoother hand slip down his arm and into his own loosely curled fist. 

"W-We can take our time with dinner. No need to rush." Adam's voice was soft, and the blush that accompanied his state was nothing short of breathtaking.

"Hm–" The older man's voice was rough, and he cleared his throat in an attempt to quell his flustered state. His hand clenched tighter around Adam's. "Sure. Dinner. Right. Lead the way, gorgeous."

**Author's Note:**

> as usual, get feral with me on twitter [@softestprofiler](https://twitter.com/softestprofiler)!!


End file.
